Letter 78 - Seven Blessings

Dear family and friends,

Another week has sped by! We celebrated John's birthday, attended church, worked in the mission office, had doctor's appointments, and had seven patriarchal blessings. 

Before I go on to the pictures, here are some fun biblical trivia about lucky number seven:

The number seven frequently symbolizes spiritual perfection, divine completeness, and totality across religious and spiritual traditions, most notably in Judeo-Christian theology. It is widely viewed as God’s signature of a finished, holy work.

In the Bible, the significance of seven is established at the very beginning of creation:

• The Sabbath: God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, establishing the template for the seven-day week and holy days of rest.
• Divine Wholeness: The number seven denotes that something is complete, lacking nothing, and fulfilled. 
• Book of Revelation: The number appears over 50 times in Revelation, structuring divine messages, judgments, and the fullness of the church. 
• Covenants: In ancient Hebrew, the word for seven (sheva) shares the same root as the word for swearing an oath (shaba). It represents a heavenly promise and a binding commitment between God and humanity.

And now - on to the pictures!

But first, we miss you and love you and thank you for your love, support, prayers and kind words. 

Love, 

Elder and Sister Brady (mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, John and Shelly, and so on)

PS - Spoiler Alert - but you have to scroll on through to the end if you want to know the surprise!

Last Saturday, while the USA was celebrating the 4th of July, and Thailand was enjoying another orindary Saturday, we were celebrating John's birthday! We did this by going to the movies and enjoying our usual giant tub of popcorn!! Half caramel/half butter! The move was called Disclosure Day. We enjoyed it :)!

I love this AI happy birthday to John from our friend Amanda! (Amanda and Lindy were flight attendants I worked with at SkyWest, back in my FA days! Cartoon Amanda is front right, Cartoon Lindy and her son Cartoon Kaden are on the left. Cartoon me is back right! 

And of course, you see the birthday boy! 

As we roamed around the mall waiting for the movie to start, we got a Facetime call from Rayong! They were Facetiming with Elder Bordon and wishing him a happy birthday and Elder Brady a happy birthday at the same time! It was fun to see everyone!

Throwback picture - taken last December when Elder Allred (on the right) arrived. Elders Borden, Brady, and Allred all have birthdays on the 4th of July! And they all served in Rayong that transfer! 

Happy Birthday Donuts! Mr. Donut provided the birthday cake donuts! These were John's favorite donut back when he served as a young missionary in the late 70s. They were also the only donut you could get back in the day here in Thailand!

Speaking of birthdays! This is a throwback - way back - of Michelle's birthday! Literal Birth Day! Michelle was born the day before John. This was probably his best early birthday present! 

Honestly, I don't expect anyone to get the Brady family humor, so this picture is here for my memory. (Remember, if you are reading this, you are basically reading my journal of our time in Thailand). Back to the humor. The Brady uncles love to use the wrong names for our children. And our children have gotten on board! So to interpret the above: Steve is wishing Michelle a happy birthday and Michelle is thanking her uncle Steve. Hahaha!

Elevator pic ... on our way up to ...

IKEA for 4th of July Meatballs! Yum! Tessa and family Facetimed while we were there! 

View from the IKEA cafe. 

John got this lovely birthday card from one of our new friends in India. Thank you Sister Powell. 

Another throwback from our time in the MTC! We arrived in the Provo MTC on January 13, 2025. That is 3 days shy of 18 months ago! Senior missionaries can choose to serve 12 months, 18 months, or 23 months. We are serving for 23 months, but if we had chosen 18 months, we would be on our way home!!

Another throwback! Spring of 2025!

Throwback to the Christmas Zone Conference. December 2025

Christmas time in Khon Kaen, Thailand!

China town throwback. Chinese New Year 2026!

Sunday, after church. Gemma, John, me, and Jessica smile! 

Sunday evening zoom fireside with the missionaries. Hello Sister Lundberg (leaving on the 16th!!)! 

Hello Sister Siri and Sister Allen! 

Monday walk home from the doctor's office. It is nice to see John on the path instead of in the hospital. It is hard to believe 3 months ago he had been in the hospital for 2 weeks! 

Tuesday afternoon patriarchal blessings with this darling couple from India, Jayaprakash and Jasmi. The received a Facetime call from their sweet children and we got to say hello. 

Jasmi and Jayaprakash from India. 

The birthday week continues with a card in the actual mail! That is always a big treat! Thank you John and Susan Standing for the birthday card for John! 

On Wednesday, we met Maqsooda and Boota from Pakistan. They joined the church a couple of years ago, after their sons did many years ago. 

They were here to be sealed as a family in the Bangkok temple. 

This mother and father did not speak English, so their son came with them to interpret and to help us get to know them and their story better. He joined the church about 15 years ago after his older brother had joined the church and served a mission. It was so special to meet this family. 

Guess who I ran into Thursday morning! Former Sister Pathoumma and Elder Kiphibane! It was so fun to see Pui and Ivan! They are both visiting Bangkok and wanted to say hello! Elder Brady was not able to see them because he was preparing to give a blessing. 

Thursday morning we met Sania. She is the daughter of the parents who received their blessings the day before. She is preparing to leave for a mission to Manchester, England. She joined the church 2 years ago with her parents and made great sacrifices to choose Jesus Christ over an arranged marriage. She said she knows she made the right choice and is thrilled to be able to serve a mission. 

Here is the entire family from Pakistan (minus the brothers' wives and children). They came to Bangkok to go to the temple together and to receive their patriarchal blessings. They were such an amazing family to meet. They invited us to lunch on Friday! 

Thursday evening, Ivan and Pui stopped by to say hello to Elder Brady! They could not stay long, because they had to catch a train! It was great to see them! We miss these great missionaries! 

Friday morning, we met Vanathi and Mridhula, mother and daughter, from Chennai, India. We loved hearing how Sister Vanathi was introduced to the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

This is the whole family. President Billy Isaac is a District President in India. He has such a sweet family. We loved meeting them all. 

Their young son got sleepy while blessings were being given and he finally fell asleep. 

Peacefully napping! He reminded us of our grandson, Sebastian. 

Sister Sania and her mother Maqsooda prepared this wonderful Pakistani meal for us! 

The food was absolutely delicious!

We have made so many wonderful friends from around the world!

This family was so kind to prepare this wonderful food! 

This room is on the 4th floor of the Annex where we live. This floor is set aside for Patron Housing. It is where members stay when they are attending the temple. There is a kitchen and eating area for people who want to prepare meals while they are in Bangkok. 

Elder Brady made everyone happy when he learned how to say delicious in Urdu. 

Mazaydaar! Delicious! 

This is our new friend, Kaden. We thought he was the child/grandchild of our friends from Pakistan. He sat down next to Elder Brady and talked to him all about Minecraft. Then he told us he wanted us to come home with him! He joined us for lunch. I was trying to find out what he called his grandma and grandpa and our hosts finally told us Kaden was from India and not related to our friends from Pakistan! Haha! 

It is Friday afternoon in Thailand! It has been a full and blessed week! 

Next week is transfers, departures (16 are leaving), and new arrivals (7 are arriving)! 

And then we will only have 3 full transfers left!!!!

I am crying!!! 

Oh, and the surprise??? Guess who is coming to Thailand??? 

Be sure to check in next week to find out! 

Just kidding! 

Katrina and family! 

We can't wait! 

They arrive the same day our new arrivals arrive! 

It will be a busy day!

Bye for now! 

Letter 77 - Happy Birthday to John and Michelle!

Dear loved ones,

It is July!! What is happening?? In short, the week flew by filled with five house inspections, movie night with Jess, and game night with the Calls. 

FYI - it is our daughter, Michelle's birthday today!! And John's birthday is tomorrow! Happy Birthday to Michelle and John! 

I will get right to the pictures!

But first, thank you so much for your love, support, prayers and kind words! We love you and miss you!

Love,

Elder and Sister Brady (mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, John and Shelly, and so on)

Throwback to last week! We left off last Saturday wrapping up the RMRT Seminar. Since I didn't take any photos on Sunday, I will just post this great picture that my friend, Jan, took. This is an amazing group of humans! I am so happy that we have had the blessing to serve in Thailand and meet so many wonderful people! We are on the dinner cruise boat here with Wat Arun lit up in the background.

Monday night pizza with Jess! 

And then back to the apartment for movie night! I highly recommend the movie "Persuasion." It is a Jane Austin romcom on Netflix! 10/10!

Bye Jessica! Thanks for spending Monday evening with us! 

Tuesday - the house inspections begin! Elders Fairey and Htoo got an A++! See the picture below to find out why! 

We had never seen a shower door so clean in all of the inspections we have done here in Thailand! Elder Fairey gets bonus points for this sparkling shower door! 

The hard worked deserved some of Sandy's delicious pizza for lunch! We had finished eating before we remembered to take a picture. Sandy is so sweet. We love visiting her pizza place when whenever we go to Ramkhamhaeng. 

Wednesday we headed to Samut Prakan to do a house inspection at the zone leader's place. The flowers on the table were a nice touch! And then we saw what the note said: "House inspection flowers for the Bradys!" I confess that earned them some bonus points. We are not above bribery! Haha! 

Of course, their very tidy desks helped them earn a high score too! 

Our fearless zone leaders, Elders Gonder and Lewis! Elder Lewis leaves on July 16th! We are going to miss the 16 missionaries who are leaving this transfer! 

We met up with the Bangna Elders for lunch at Eat Am Are (not pictured). It was the first time Elder Brady ate there since his time in the hospital. We survived! We had to get some DQ after lunch! 

Pictured: Elders Gonder, Lewis, Aiono, and Auernig. Elder Auernig is also heading home. 

I just love how worn missionaries shoes are! I had to get a picture! 

Some of these shoes have holes on the soles! 

The Bangna Elders had a surprise on their balcony. One of the questions on the inspection form is: "Is your balcony free of clutter?" Other than the bird's nest behind the washing machine, it was clutter free.

The mama bird flew away and there was this sweet little baby bird!! And another egg ready to hatch! 

The Bangna Elders also did a great job! I loved the kitchen counter top aesthetics! 

Elders Gonder and Lewis had exchanges with the Bangna Elders once were done with the inspection. So they came with us and took a little rest while we finished up the inspection. 

I love this Thailand Bangkok East Monopoly Board hanging on their wall. This was created by President Kanyaphan, our mission leader. He is a good artist! 

Great job Elders Aiono and Auernig! They got an extra + on their score because . . .

They gave us a treat! Haha! These are Elder Brady's favorite! 

On the train home, there were posters all over advertising Cherries! The website at the bottom was nwcherries.com. I decided to look it up and they are cherries from OREGON, being advertised here in Thailand! For those of you didn't know . . . we are from Oregon! :)

Wednesday evening, we took a walk to Villa Market to get a few groceries. We checked the forecast and it looked like it would not be raining until 9pm. It was around 5:30pm at the time. We stepped outside after shopping, and it was starting to sprinkle. 

We made it about halfway home and it began to pour! 

We found some shelter in front of a hotel. We sat out the storm in some comfy chairs. 

It finally did blow over and we made it home! Whew!

Moral of the story, never trust the forecast, and always bring an umbrella during the rainy season! 

Thursday on the bus! 

All roads lead to Pepper Lunch! Elders Jones (also leaving - noooooo) and Hiltscher did a great job on their apartment cleaning too! 

Thursday evening we finally had the Calls over for a game night! We have been meaning to have them over since they got here at the end of January! Elder Call beat us all in Five Crowns and the boys beat the girls in Cribbage. John made a note of it, of course! 

Friday, we headed to the APs and Office Elder's apartment! And wow did they do a great job! 

They have a spacious apartment because they often have to host missionaries who come into Bangkok for transfers and zone conferences! The apartment was spick-and-span! 

Way to go Elders Lowry, Dollar, and Saunders (also leaving)!!

We headed to the mall where I found this sign on the wall of the bathroom when I stopped to use the bathroom. Interesting.

We ate lunch at Sizzler! It was fantabulous! The Salad Bar was so wonderful! I am always looking for a good salad! It was a little on the spendy side as my all you can eat salad was 250 baht, which is about $7.50 USD. Then I went online and saw that the salad bar prices back in the USA are about $18.99 for an all you can eat salad at Sizzler!! Is this true???????? 

The Salad Bar was free with the overpriced burger though! So that is good! :)

Lunch with the Elders! 

Sizzler was sponsoring a bit Salad Bowl Bowling at the Mall! 

It was basically Sizzler day! 

Friday afternoon, we went with the Calls and the Sisters (who were in town for immigration) out to get ice cream at Mixue! Sisters Lundberg (leaving), Allen, Sirisouk, and Jasper! We love these Sisters! 

Saturday!! I thought I was going to get this done on Friday, but the day got away from me! Happy Birthday to John! This throwback picture was taken last December when Elder Allred first arrived. 

Elder Borden on the left was his new trainer and they were heading down to Rayong. 

Somehow, they all figured out that they were all 3 born on the 4th of July! 

Happy Birthday to these Yankee Doodle Dandies! 

Saturday morning, we finally connected with Michelle to wish her a happy birthday. They had been out hiking all day at Yosemite and didn't have cell service. Just like last year we were able to wish happy birthday to Michelle (July 3rd evening in the USA) while she and her family wished dad/grandpa a happy birthday (July 4th morning in Thailand). I don't know when this will happen again! 

Throwback to 2nd grade! Look at this cutie patootie! 

Looking debonair in high school! Too cool for school! 

Speaking of John and Michelle! I love this picture of the them! Celebrating Michelle's Birth Day!! 

A birthday call from Rayong! It is our missionaries and Ma Beer and Ma Pen! 

Birthday donuts for the birthday boy (well, one was for me). These are the famous Mr. Donut donuts, the only donut shop that was in Thailand when Elder Brady was a missionary here back in the late 70s. It is is a fun treat and a perfect birthday cake! 

Well, that concludes this week's blog!

Thank you for reading!

We love you and miss you! 

Happy 4th of July!